Society in shock

The four Centre Party MPs and two MPs from the People's Party - all opposition politicians - were secretly recorded by a member of the public in a Reykjavik bar, Klaustur.

They are heard repeatedly using the word "bitch" and sexually-charged language. A woman MP was in the group, but did not make similarly offensive comments.

The anonymous eavesdropper sent the recording to Icelandic media, and it then went viral on social media. He said he recorded them on his mobile phone because he was shocked by the language they used, the Iceland Monitor reported.

Mr Gunnlaugsson was embroiled in a big scandal when the Panama Papers were published in April 2016.

He resigned as PM after the leaks from law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed that he owned an offshore company with his wife, but had not declared that on entering parliament.

On Facebook he complained (in Icelandic) on 28 November about the secret recording in the bar. "Most serious, however, is the fact that Iceland is conducting interceptions of politicians' private conversations," he wrote.

'No intention to hurt'

He and the three other Centre Party MPs sent a joint apology to the media, saying "it was not our intent to hurt anyone, and it might be clear that this talk is inexcusable".

"We will focus on learning from this", they said, apologising further to their party colleagues and families.

At Saturday's rally a Reykjavik city councillor, Sanna Magdalena Mörtudottir, said "I want to hear the voices of everybody else, not arrogant, powerful, white middle-class men who have been allowed to rule this society for too long".

Bryndis Snaebjörnsdottir, head of a disabilities association called Throskahjalp, told the BBC her colleagues and disabled Icelanders generally were "quite shocked" by the recording.

"It was hate speech. It was so awful to listen to MPs imitating animal noises, making jokes about a disabled woman who is a big fighter for the rights of people with disabilities," she said.

"All the MPs who were there should leave parliament," she said. She noted that disability benefit in Iceland is lower than unemployment benefit - 243,000 krona (£1,554; $1,976) a month, compared with 270,000 krona for the unemployed.

"Now we're wondering if it's because of those attitudes of MPs," she said. "We don't trust those people, it's unforgivable."

Ms Björnsson said "Iceland may be known as a country of feminism and gender equality, but although things are probably better here than in many places there's still a long way to go, in matters of equal pay, punishment for sexual offenders, how rape victims are often treated and how women are spoken to and treated on a daily basis."